November 5, 2010

We have a ritual in America. We elect a popular politician President who regards his election as a mandate to do his pet projects that sometimes reflect his campaign promises if they weren't vague enough. Then two years later, we elect people from the other party to rein in his power and pull the rug out from under him.

I'm so proud of the people of the state of Connecticut for staying blue. I don't think it's because any great love for Democrats, although most of the state outside of Fairfield and Litchfield Counties is pretty much made up of blue collar folks, union workers and minorities. I think the Dems success is because of the quality of the opposition that the GOP and other Connecticut fringe parties throw against the Democratic wall. It can be breached, but not by extreme conservatives, not in the land of steady bad habits.

There are certain hot-button conservative identifying issues that are settled in Connecticut and won't arouse any interest in the majority of the electorate, such as a woman's right to an abortion, prayer in schools and gay marriage. Those three seem to be the main qualification to be a conservative throughout America, but it won't work here. Debate over.

What we need here are fiscal conservatives, people who are a little more tight with a buck than the Democrats who never met a bleeding heart they wouldn't fund. We need Republican conservatives whose real goal is to not make us believe as they do morally and spiritually, but who want to shrink the size of state government and make it more efficient. That would be a Republican who could be elected to any office.

It reminds me of when the writer's and Charlie Chaplin were accused of being Communist. What I see here is a witch hunt on the Democrats. The conservatives can't handle the first female speaker of the house and the first black president. I agree Bob, I don't want a democrat who is going to give our money to every bleeding cause and I'm a democrat. But I also don't want a republican who only has their eyes on repealing the health care reform bill or try to impeach the president if he doesn't. The health care bill is a long term solution. Right now, if you are poor, the rich and especially the middle class pay for any services or provided health care costs for the poor and uninsured. This is under different names, Husky plan, State Administered General Assistance, write off loses that raise premiums to all of us. etc., I was listening to Mitch, (GOP,) last evening and he is so good at convoluting the issues. Obama is not in denial! He heard the people and they want jobs, and the president is willing to make this a priority and work together with Republican's to create them. Mitch and the Republican's are convincing even the voters of what he thinks we want. Doesn't Mitch get it, it is jobs!!!! That was loud and clear before the election but somehow, after the election, it changed to repealing the health care bill. It sounds more like he became the president. It was curious to me that just today there were significant health breakthroughs on many major diseases. Nothing like I have ever seen or heard before in my lifetime. The fed is also brainstorming on ways to ignite the economy at possibly a big risk. Where was all this support before Tuesday's election? Are Republican's going to take credit for all this because they have the rich in their pocket and can manipulate the dynamic's that will temporarily look good for them? We will be spending two more years of our taxes wasted on a power struggle agenda by the republicans, not the democrats! In our own state I was thinking if you paid a dollar for one ballot times the number of people voting in each town, that is over a million dollars. Then who is paying for the re-work for the snafu with the governor's vote count; the tax payers @ perhaps 30 dollars an hour or more if it runs into overtime? We wonder why we cannot balance a budget and this is when have a republican governor or perhaps had a republican governor? LOL! We do deserve more accountability and I have been saying this for years.

To expect politicians to stop their conflicts over policy, law and finances is a long reach. These battles have been going on since the days when defending hunting grounds was the focus in order to survive. Today its mainly for money and power. Has anyone found or created a universal Utopia? I think we may have come close in the Mandan Empire but the verdict is still open to theory and discussion. The rallying cry for and against the Health Bill is fomenting rigidity. I think it would be best to examine what is useful in that bill and either scrap the rest or start over with the good points as the core of a new bill (minus the onerous earmarks of course)! As for convoluting issues; no one person or party or organization has a corner on that skill. Another point: this nation needs a sound and honest campaign finance reform bill, perhaps one that is financed by public money only and, for the sake of us all, a fixed campaign season. We can do much better! Finally; everyone please take a good long look at term limits!

T.T.,
I agree the health care bill needs adjusting, however, Mitch, was on T.V. initially and immediately after the election stating his first priority was to repeal it and get rid of it altogether and at any cost. I am naive but I didn't realize there was so much horse trading with passing legislation. I know you may have a hard time believing this as silly as it may sound. Sometimes you have to weigh the process (politics,) to get to the greater good over the bad to pass the bills that are humane, decent, and possibly career busters but overall necessary. Politics, as it stands now, happens to be the only avenue for planting a seed in change for medical need as I see it. At least in my experience, these are not the bleeding society leaches, but hard working family and friends who have had a desperate and serious medical extreme serious life changing event.